For
a long time in the days, weeks, months and years leading
up to the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills Golf Course, I
consistently told everyone I could about how neat and
important having the championship in Washington County
was going to be.

Now
that it’s been here and gone, I think we can all agree
it was exciting to see our community in the center of
the sporting world for millions around the world to see.
In addition, the championship was a smashing success and
Erin Hills has made a compelling case to host the
championship again someday.

The
USGA certainly believes so.

“We
could not have had a better U.S. Open,” said Mike Davis,
USGA executive director. “Erin Hills was superb in terms
of the golf course, the operations, the state of
Wisconsin, Milwaukee, the surrounding communities could
not have been any more welcoming. The volunteers were
terrific. For a place that’s only 11 years old, we could
not have been more happy and just delighted.

“We
got a great champion with Brooks Koepka. We certainly
look forward to coming back to Erin Hills, hopefully
multiple times in the future.”

So,
the question is when it’ll be back, not if. Well, we’ll
have to wait at least 10 years. I hope we won’t have to
wait long to find out.

The
U.S. Open sites are booked through 2026. So the earliest
the championship could come back is 2027.

Unfortunately, it’s a guessing game to put together any
possible prediction.

Hopefully you saw our 32page full-color preview magazine
for the championship. If you didn’t, we still have
copies available here at our office, 100 S. Sixth Ave.,
West Bend, if you’d like to pick one up.

In
the magazine was a story about this year’s U.S. Open was
the first in the Midwest since 2003. The story looked at
that championship, but also how and why it took 14 years
for the championship to return to the nation’s
heartland.

Mike
Butz, USGA Senior Managing Director, Open Championships
and Association Relations, said there is no pattern when
it comes to determining host sites.

For
example, Butz said, the first U.S. Open to be held in
the southeast was in 1976 in Georgia and didn’t return
to the region until 1999 in North Carolina. The
championship hasn’t been in southern California since
1948, but will get the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles
Country Club.

In
2015, Chambers Bay in Washington was the first U.S. Open
in the Pacific Northwest.

“We
try not to get caught up in geography,” Butz said.

He
added, “New boards add new interests.”

Look
at next year’s site — Shinnecock Hills in New York.
Shinnecock Hills gets the championship for the first
time since 2004, but will get it again in 2026. Long
before that, though, Shinnecock Hills waited 90 years
after hosting it 1896 to get it again in 1986.

In
2022, The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, gets
the championship for the first time since 1988.

Then
you’ve got Oakmont, the 2016 host. Oakmont gets the
championship again in 2025, continuing a string of
hosting it at least once in the last seven decades
(1953, 1962, 1973, 1983, 1994, 2007, 2016 and 2025).

Erin
Hills had a chance to surge onto the golf spotlight as
the next legendary or iconic course. The pictures, the
videos were breathtaking all week. The course is great,
despite the criticism the course unfairly got, such as
the fairways being too wide for the players, making it
easy on them.

But
let’s give credit where it’s due. The players are just
that good. On top of that, the conditions favored low
scores. Maybe next time, the conditions are different
and the scores are higher.

The
U.S. Open bills itself as golf’s ultimate test and
several players, if not all of them, will agree they
were tested. Again, let’s give credit where it’s due,
the players hit shots. Who could’ve predicted Justin
Thomas’ ridiculous shot on No. 18 on Saturday that led
to an eagle, putting a 3-wood within 10 feet of the pin
from more than 300 yards away? Kudos to a great shot.

Sure, the winning score was 16-under. But, keep this in
mind — six of the top-10 ranked players in the world,
including each of the top three, didn’t make the cut.

Erin
Hills deserves another U.S. Open. We should want it
back. How could you not want an event projected to boost
the state’s economy by more than $100 million back?